By Scott Gilfoid: Former light welterweight champion Amir Khan (33-4, 20 KOs) kept his career alive just barely in defeating fringe contender Samuel Vargas (29-4, 14 KOs) by an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. The judges scored it 119-108, 119-109, and 118-110.
Boxing News 24 had Khan winning nine rounds to three. Khan definitely won, but he was ready to be knocked out in the 10th and he looked horrible in terms of his chin and his stamina.
Khan knocked Vargas, 29, twice in the fight in dropping him in round 2 and 3. Vargas shockingly dropped Khan in the 2nd round, and had him out on his feet at the end of the 10th round. Khan was incredibly lucky to survive the 10th. Had there been a little more time in the round, he would have been finished off for sure by Vargas.
Khan was given credit for a rabbit punch knockdown in round 3. The referee Terry O’Connor let Khan get away with the rabbit punch knockdown for some reason. I guess O’Connor was looking the other way and failed to see a blatant rabbit shot. With the way the judges scored the fight, it didn’t matter. Khan would have won the fight anyway even if O’Connor had done his job correctly and waived off the rabbit shot KD in the 3rd.
Khan fought well in round five in landing a lot of shots to the head of Vargas, who suffered a nose injury. Vargas took Khan’s bombardment in the round and showed a lot of heart in doing so.
The expenditure of energy seemed to wear Khan out by the 7th round, as he started to look arm weary, and a lot of the power on his shots dropped off. Vargas’ body shots helped wear Khan out though, as he was hitting him frequently.
After the fight, Khan called out World Boxing Association ‘regular’ welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. In what has to be seen as a huge disappointment to Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn, Khan didn’t call out Kell Brook.
”I will beat Manny Pacquiao and Kell Brook,” Khan said to Sky Sports after his win over Vargas tonight. ”Who do you want me to fight next? Manny Pacquiao or Kell Brook” Khan asked the crowd at ringside. ”There is a massive demand for me but there is only one fighter over Kell Brook and that is Manny Pacquiao. I want Manny Pacquiao first! If it’s not Pacquiao, we go back to the drawing board and then look at Brook,” Khan said.
Well, I doubt that Pacquiao is shivering his boots after seeing how horrible Khan was tonight. This would be too easy for the 39-year-old Pacquiao to beat Khan with the way he looked tonight.
Kell Brook was licking his chops after the fight, saying to Sky Sports, “There is no way I wouldn’t have let him off lightly,” in talking about Khan being hurt. “He definitely hadn’t got the best chin and he would definitely being staying down there. I’ll let him be the A-side because I will pit him on his backside.”
I think it’s clear that Brook would have destroyed Khan if he’d been inside the ring with him tonight. Unfortunately, Brook wasn’t in there with Khan and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be fighting him in
December. Khan wants Pacquiao, not Brook in December. Eddie Hearn must be furious at hearing Khan talk about wanting to fight Pacquiao rather than Brook.
Other boxing results on the Khan vs. Vargas card:
Hassan Mwakinyo stops Sam Eggington in round 2
Jason Welborn defeats Tommy Langford by 12 round split decision
Lewis Ritson beats Oscar Amador by 3rd round TKO
Scott Fitzgerald defeats Craig Morris by 10th round TKO